New Yorker Awarded $19.2 Million Verdict As Result of Hospital Negligence

Posted on Aug 06, 2009From Ny Daily News .com:

" A paralyzed father of three plans to move from a nursing facility back home with his family after winning a $19.2 million negligence award against Montefiore Medical Center earlier this month.

Wilfredo Figueroa, 58, was working as a radiology technician on Sept. 22, 2004, when he was admitted to Montefiore, complaining of severe back pain.

The Bronx hospital's staff failed to diagnose a spinal abscess- an infection on his spinal cord - which rapidly led to his permanent paralysis, according to lawyer Edward Bithorn and court documents.

Bithorn said the jury heard testimony during the three-week trial that the Montefiore staff did not conduct an MRI or CAT scan until two weeks after Figueroa was admitted, when the damage had already been done.

A neurosurgeon tried to reverse some of that damage, but it was too late, Bithorn said.

"It really was an institutional failure that allowed this to happen," Bithorn said. "There really wasn't any particular physician or specialist that was directing his care."

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